Opening Ceremony.

The students arrived for the first day of school today! Mr. Kobayashi took this photo of me and the Principal just before I gave my self-introduction in English and Japanese. I think the image captures the scene fairly accurately: perfectly formed rows, absolute attention, silence, and respect (something you would never get in the US). After the ceremony, though, the students erupted with energy in the halls, gathering in clumps of friends, touching each other incessantly, gossiping about this and that, and making ridiculously surprised faces whenever I passed. "Hello!" When I approached a group of boys in the baseball club, one of them asked how I was and then blurted out, "I love you." I laughed audibly, thought he needed some work on his English, and said, "I love you, too!" As for the teachers, they're really opening up to me and we've managed to have quite a few laughs despite the language struggle. I told them to call me "Elli-chan," which in loose translation means "my dear little Elliot." (Below is a photo from an enkai--celebratory party--that the English teachers threw in my honor a few days earlier).